Whale research can be non-lethal

Very soon Southern Ocean summer whaling season will start once again, meaning that Japan will once again kill more than 1,000 whales for "research" because Japanese apparently believe we can only study whales if we kill them first. Unlike these theory Australia plans to invest $3.87 million in non-lethal whale research to show Japan that it is possible to study whales without killing them first. This non-lethal campaign would include aerial surveys, satellite tags and genetic studies.

Japanese however still believe in different methods as Japan kills about 1,200 whales per year in two hunting expeditions that are under the disguise of scientific program that according to Tokyo provides crucial data on populations, feeding habits and distribution of the mammals in the seas near Antarctica and the north Pacific Ocean. From some strange reason Japanese "researching methods" are allowed by the International Whaling Commission but there are many opponents claiming that Japan is in fact killing whales for strictly commercial purposes.

It is really difficult to see the "scientific character" of Japanese "kill to study" method

After all whale hunting has a couple of centuries long tradition in Japan, and even though commercial whale hunting was banned in 1986 it is difficult to see the logic in killing more than thousand of whales each year in order to get "crucial scientific data". "Kill to study routine" should really be thing of the past, especially in technologically advanced country like Japan. Australian method "observe to study" is by far better solution, and it is really difficult to see scientific character of this Japanese method. These hunts certainly smell like cover for commercial whaling.